Coursera Acquires Hands-On Learning Platform Rhyme Softworks

The acclaimed online education platform Coursera announced its first-ever acquisition, Rhyme Softworks for an undisclosed amount.

Rhyme Softworks offer a platform for developers to build e-learning projects using its proprietary tools. Through the acquisition, Coursera plans to launch a new initiative called Coursera Labs.

The new initiative will empower its partners to do e-learning projects using Rhyme Softworks’ tech. 

Founded by Stanford professors Andrew Ng and Daphne Koller in 2011, Coursera is an online learning platform that boasts a wide array of courses covering tech and nontech skills.

The courses are designed for different skill levels such as beginner, intermediate, and advanced/expert. The platform has a long clientele list, including the tech leader Google and prominent universities.

Jeff Maggioncalda quoted, “As online learning continues to support workforce training on the job and at home, it’s important to provide engaging, hands-on experiences that enable learners to Tester their mastery of new skills with the tools used in the workplace.” He further added that the partnership would empower its partners in creating more learners.

Launched in June 2018 by Minko Gechev, Namit Yadav, and Robert Hutter, the startup was quick to make a mark in the online learning market space.

The platform enables its users to do hands-on projects from their internet browser using Windows or Linux cloud desktops. 

The Coursera Labs project will be powered by Jupyter Notebook, RStudio, VS code, cloud software consoles, or any other native desktop app. The project has already gained its first client.

The University of London introduced an app called Sleuth, a code-solving interactive puzzle for students. The University of Illinois and the University of Michigan are also expected to come on board to enrich their Coursera content. 

Coursera has over 3,600 courses and 14 degrees in its product portfolio with a worldwide customer base of 43 million.

Rhyme’s co-founder and CEO Namit Yadav will lead the R&D division in a new office based in Bulgaria. Coursera also revealed its plans to invest millions in accelerating the project.